As Nature intended: Vaisto

Nature as model

Our Vaisto-products are complied in a way that resembles the way canines would eat in the wild, in other words whole animals, including meat, bones and organs. Exactly everything a whole animal consists of cannot be put into the product for different reasons, but we aim as close as we can – of course taking into account the environment canines live in today.

The product does not contain as much bone, cartilage or connective tissue as a dog would eat in the wild. Many dogs would not eat as large animals as our livestock, because of their own size and can therefore not digest the bones of larger animals as they are too large and hard in comparison to small animals, mainly rodents, they would eat given the chance.

Another issue for digesting bones is exercise. Most of our companion dogs do not get nearly as much exercise as they would in the wild and that impacts them by slowing down their metabolism. Because of the decrease in exercise many dogs would get constipated if they eat as much bone as canines in the wild do.

Proteins and amino acids

In addition to our Vaisto products being as close to natures model as they can, we’ve tried to improve them a bit by taking into consideration a couple of things. We’ve selected three protein sources (meat from three different animals) because of the variation of amino acids they contain.

It’s not entirely uncomplicated to explain what amino acids are and how they work, without sounding hopelessly scientific, difficult and boring, so I’ll try to simplify as much as I can. Some may find the text a bit difficult to understand, but do not worry! Just keep reading and the big picture will get clearer!

Proteins consist of different amino acid compounds. There are 22 different amino acids and they function as kind of building blocks for proteins. Every species protein make-up is different from each other by the content and amount of amino acids present and therefore meat from different animals are different, even if they all contain protein. It’s the amino acid types and amounts that varies.

Of the 22 amino acids 10 are essential to canines. Canines cannot survive without all of the 10 essential amino acids. They also need sufficient amounts of them for the body to be able to function flawlessly.

The none-essential amino acids are not essential, but important and needed never the less! The canine body can transform essential amino acids to non-essential ones, but to do that the body needs the help of vitamins and minerals. Because of the consumption of vitamins and minerals the transformation process from essential to non essential amino acids needs, it’s more beneficial to get them directly from food than to process them from the essential ones in order for the body to be able to use them.

Because meats from different animals contain different amounts of these 22 amino acids, vitamins and minerals, it cannot be guaranteed for a dog to get enough of each if given a diet that consists of only one kind of meat.

The nutrient content can also vary in a natural raw-material. The nutrient content of bovine meat, to mention an example, can vary quite much depending on how and where the animal has lived (indoors, outdoors, where on earth etc.) as well as what it has been eating, how old it was at the time of slaughter and so on.

With a bit of luck a dog can do fine on only one animal source of meat, but the odds are much better if the dog is served several different kinds of meat, bone and organs.

Many may wonder about this, because we are used to kibble, which only contain one source of protein, until they learn that Mush products are manufactured with a very different ideology. In dry food many of the nutrients, including the 10 essential amino acids, are supplemented. That’s the only way the amounts can be standardized and guaranteed. It’s also worth giving a thought to that most of the dry foods are compiled to cover just the essential nutrients. Chances are, they only contain enough of the 10 amino acids, instead of sufficient amounts of all 22.

Fatty acids

The fatty acid content in Mush Vaisto-products is formed by choosing raw-materials that compliment each other in fatty acids to get a perfect and balanced combination. As many experienced dog owners know, there are a lot of sub categories for the omega 3’s and 6’s and the balance of those is important. That’s one reason why we’ve used salmon in our example product. Many manufacturers use different vegetable oils to add fatty acids, but we feel these are not as natural to canines as the animal based fats are. Many have mistakenly thought that we use the oils in our products to add fatty acids, until they learn the real reasons for the use of them.

Oils

Many are surprised to learn that sunflower oil contain a lot of vitamin E and that is the reason why we add it to our Vaisto products. Vitamin E is easily destroyed and therefore hard to have in a product with no additives at all. All nutrients in Much Vaisto products come from the raw materials.

Sunflower oil is not that good for canines when considering the fatty acids. That’s why it needed to be balanced out with something, so that the total fatty acid content would stay perfect. Camelina oil does just that to sunflower oil and that is why we put it into the Vaisto-products. So the oils are not in the products for their fatty acid content, but to maintain the balance of fatty acids. We feel that the best fatty acids come from the animal based products; meat, organs and bones.

Vegetables

Canines are not that good at digesting and getting the best use of the nutrients of plant based food and that’s why we chose as nutrient dense vegetables as we could. By doing this we make the most of the small amounts of the absorbed nutrients. The main purpose for the small amounts of plant based raw materials in Vaisto is to add some fiber to soften the faeces a bit.